The seamless robe of human rights

Denis Murphy, Urban Poor Associates, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

At the rally at the House of Representatives in support of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. the other week, a question occurred to me: Where were all these Catholic Church people, judges, student leaders, politicians and lawyers when the vendors were driven off the sidewalks earlier this year, or when the homes of 500 poor families living outside the House compound were hurriedly demolished to clean up the city for President George W. Bush?

This is not meant to be censorious, especially of people willing to demonstrate for what they believe in. But it is a fair question we should try to answer.

Human rights are a seamless robe, to quote the late Cardinal Joseph Bernadin of Chicago. He was arguing that U.S. Catholics who were anti-abortion and pro-life should also be anti-death penalty and anti-war, the other issues of life and death under discussion then. Many Catholics were selective. The seamless robe image refers to the robe of Jesus on Calvary that soldiers wouldn't tear but had cast lots to see who would own it.

There were good reasons for rallying at the House compound. The Davide matter concerns the entire country's welfare. The removal of the vendors and urban poor does not, at least not immediately. However, multiply those incidents a hundred times a month across the nation and we may see something very disturbing.

For example, I didn't see any poor people at the rally (the People's Movement Against Poverty group of Joseph Estrada supporters was kept outside), though there are nearly half a million urban poor people within walking distance of the House in the National Government Center, the Payatas dumpsite, and other areas. Why were there none at the rally? Perhaps they didn't know of it. Perhaps they couldn't get free for an afternoon. Or perhaps they didn't care. Most may have thought that the courts had never helped them, so why bother. What did the courts do to help the vendors or the poor families evicted alongside the House compound?

Some will argue the sidewalks are for walking, not business, and the poor outside House compound were hardcore recidivists. Reality is never that simple to start with, but if there are arguments against the poor, there are also arguments in their favor if we care to look. Laws were broken when the vendors and urban poor were removed and at the very least there was no need for all the rush.

The poor may also ask why were they the only ones removed from the sidewalks when even now we see parked cars and other obstructions of the rich blocking sidewalks. If poor people do not concern themselves with the Supreme Court, the symbol of justice in society, is it because they believe they will not be treated fairly?

A great danger is that the poor may lose all interest in politics and governance and become a free-floating mass of discontent.

If we are careless with the rights of the poor, we might well remember the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, speaking of the Protestant churches in Hitler's Germany said: "When the Nazis came and arrested all of the Jewish Rabbis, we said nothing. When they came to arrest all of the Roman Catholic priests, we said nothing. When they came to arrest all of us [the Protestant clergy], there was no one left to say anything."

Who will defend us in the future if we ignore the essential rights of the poor?

We are talking of the rights given the poor by the Constitution, the Gospel and the international covenants signed by the government. The Gospel is the most radical, since it calls us to give priority to the poor in all things.

The most recently acknowledged right is that to water (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Rights, March 2003). For the poor, water is a very important right, and it serves as well as any right to illustrate the vulnerability of the poor. Water is essential for good health, sanitation and a decent quality of life, but hundreds of thousands of poor people in Metro Manila cannot afford enough of it. On average, based on the communities we have studied, poor people who don't have piped water can afford only half the minimum amount of water recommended by the United Nations: About 250 liters per day for a family of five.

As a result, mothers can't wash the food, take care of sanitation, wash the children, clean the house and their clothes. If any of us had to live on the water these poor people have, we too would find ourselves in a slum. As a result, children get sick and die at 10 times the rate found in areas of the city where people are well off. The young are deprived of life. Yet no Church person, judge, or lawyer has spoken in their defense on this matter.

The people who suffer the most from the lack of water are the very, very poor, including the scavengers in Payatas. The small children with flies on their faces and no water to wash and who are afflicted with gastroenteritis should haunt us.

Let's hope for justice in the Davide matter. But we must be concerned with all rights, especially those of the poor. Human rights are inseparable, especially in a democracy.

In the end, we will probably find that God will be more interested to know what we did about the housing and water rights of the poor than the other matters that dominate our lives.